"Road to Perdition" is a technical stroke of genius. Sam Mendes directed with great heart, great precision, and great attention paid to every detail. The story, while not as epic in scope as, say, "The Godfather," is strong and compelling. You can't help but watch this movie and get involved in it. People who say it's unemotional or that they felt "detached" from it have been reading too many books about movies; that, or they're big, big fans of the "Scooby Doo" movie.
Paul Newman is terrific here; how could he not be. Jude Law provokes chills as the photographer/killer. Tyler Hoechlin is a child actor who can actually act.
Another big star is, of course, Conrad Hall, whose cinematography goes beyond words into the realm of the fantastic. This is one of the best LOOKING movies of all time. I would love to have seen it on the screen, but unfortunately, Dreamworks did not release it to many theaters here in Texas. Shame.
Which leads us to Tom Hanks. Here is the Great Man, in a great role. Who would have thought the star of "The Man With One Red Shoe" (or, how bout this one, "Bonfire of the Vanities") would go on to become the De Niro of the Nineties, and now the 21st century? Hanks is a movie star on a par with Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson -- no doubt. He took over the Everyman slot once occupied by Kevin Costner and made it his own. But he brings to the role of Michael Sullivan the mythic presence of Harrison Ford, while becoming the character as thoroughly as De Niro became Jake La Motta.
I'm tripping over myself to heap praise on Hanks' work in "Road to Perdition." It's deserved. This is a performance to get stupid over. Strong, brooding, powerful, reserved, moral, conflicted, Hanks shows us a man trapped in a job that he hates (think Lester Burnham), a job he's nonetheless very efficient at doing. We believe he can handle firearms, we believe he can kill people, but Hanks never lets us believe he does it for fun. We don't catch him showing off. When Hanks shoots a guy in the head, he does it because he's forced to. When Hanks, as Sullivan, gives you an order, you carry it out because there's the impression that he's slightly more ethical than you are. I don't care that he's a hired gun; Sullivan just has that weighty, unspoken authority.
So, even if "Road" weren't excellent on every other level, Hanks would make it well worth seeing. By the way, the movie isn't "slow," but "well paced," which used to mean something in Hollywood, and to audiences. Thanks, MTV!
Paul Newman is terrific here; how could he not be. Jude Law provokes chills as the photographer/killer. Tyler Hoechlin is a child actor who can actually act.
Another big star is, of course, Conrad Hall, whose cinematography goes beyond words into the realm of the fantastic. This is one of the best LOOKING movies of all time. I would love to have seen it on the screen, but unfortunately, Dreamworks did not release it to many theaters here in Texas. Shame.
Which leads us to Tom Hanks. Here is the Great Man, in a great role. Who would have thought the star of "The Man With One Red Shoe" (or, how bout this one, "Bonfire of the Vanities") would go on to become the De Niro of the Nineties, and now the 21st century? Hanks is a movie star on a par with Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson -- no doubt. He took over the Everyman slot once occupied by Kevin Costner and made it his own. But he brings to the role of Michael Sullivan the mythic presence of Harrison Ford, while becoming the character as thoroughly as De Niro became Jake La Motta.
I'm tripping over myself to heap praise on Hanks' work in "Road to Perdition." It's deserved. This is a performance to get stupid over. Strong, brooding, powerful, reserved, moral, conflicted, Hanks shows us a man trapped in a job that he hates (think Lester Burnham), a job he's nonetheless very efficient at doing. We believe he can handle firearms, we believe he can kill people, but Hanks never lets us believe he does it for fun. We don't catch him showing off. When Hanks shoots a guy in the head, he does it because he's forced to. When Hanks, as Sullivan, gives you an order, you carry it out because there's the impression that he's slightly more ethical than you are. I don't care that he's a hired gun; Sullivan just has that weighty, unspoken authority.
So, even if "Road" weren't excellent on every other level, Hanks would make it well worth seeing. By the way, the movie isn't "slow," but "well paced," which used to mean something in Hollywood, and to audiences. Thanks, MTV!